Good Golly, Miss Molly: Ivins Carries On Despite Health Setbacks

[DeepModem Mom]

Editor&Publisher: Good Golly, Miss Molly: Ivins Carries On Despite Setbacks
By Barbara Bedway
Published: November 10, 2006


(Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle)
Molly Ivins

NEW YORK You'd expect Molly Ivins -- syndicated columnist, best-selling author, and veteran eviscerator of the pompous and mendacious -- to freely offer her opinions to a reporter, and she does, even suggesting this lead: "Molly Ivins Still Not Dead."

The third recurrence of the breast cancer she has been battling since 1999 (and which recently claimed her good friend, former Texas Gov. Ann Richards) has left the 62-year-old Ivins with precarious balance, minimal hair, and no illusions about the redemptive quality of life-threatening illness. "I'd hoped to become a better person from confronting my own mortality," she laughs. "But it hasn't happened."

What has happened, and continues to happen, are her two columns a week, syndicated in hundreds of newspapers, wittily skewering Republicans and "Republican-lite" Democrats with her trademark, Texas-size sense of humor, politely referred to as "ribald" in some quarters. (She contends she was fired from The New York Times back in 1982 for, among other things, referring to a community's annual chicken-killing festival as a "gang pluck.") Her passion for newspapers, and the good they can do, remains undiminished. As chair of the Texas Observer board, she's especially intent on helping to keep alive the print media's small, independent voices.

"We must keep these alive, or you lose an incredibly important part of journalism," she says. "The Observer breaks a lot of stories, but its real function is to move stories up the food chain. They get picked up by The Washington Post and the New York Times. We broke a big chunk of the Indian casinos stuff on Abramoff, and were the first to do the DeLay stuff. That proves it doesn't take that many horses to get the story; it takes a culture where it's assumed you get up off your ass and get the story."

Ivins says she's "perfectly comfortable" with the idea that newsgathering will move to the Internet. You'll have still the same problems: Find out whether it's true, and put it in a package that's useful. "I think this so-called war or competition between bloggers and the mainstream media is just plain silly," she adds. "We all need to be supporting one another. I'm fond of many bloggers I read." She cited Atrios, DailyKos and Talking Points Memo....

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003380585

[derby378]

1. We've already lost Ann Richards...

If we lose Molly, I don't know what we Texas Democrats are going to do. :cry:

[Buck Laser]

2. What sad news...

Molly has been my favorite columnist/journalist ever since I first read her work in the Texas Observer back in the late 60s. She must have been very young then. And linking Ann Richards and Molly Ivins is appropriate, because two more classy women never lived. I don't pray much, but I will pray for her recovery.

[asjr]

5. I first read her in the 60s also in Ft. Worth. She

is a treasure. Must send her good vibes.

[earth mom]

3. Sending Good Vibes Mollys Way! She's the Best!

:grouphug:

[malaise]

4. Molly Ivins is one of the best

I love her articles and collect her books. As painful as it must be for her to be seriously ill, at least she's well enough to know that her fellow citizens "let the Dogs Out" while she's still with us.

[SeattleGirl]

6. God, I love that woman!

Get well, Molly. We need your voice so much.

[justgamma]

7. Sending good vibes to Molly!

The very first political book I ever read or considered reading was "Shrub: The Short But Happy Life of GWB"

I just knew there was something wrong with Shrub, but couldn't put my finger on it. Never was too interested in politics before, but there was something about him that scared the heck out of me. (with good reason it turned out) I started reading everything I could.

A bg thank you to Molly for making me aware of the world around me.